GOVERNMENT communities secretary Sajid Javid has come under fire for refusing to commit funding to retro-fit sprinklers to tower blocks following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The Bromsgrove Conservative MP instead said he would await the outcome of a review of fire safety in housing before deciding whether sprinklers should be required by law and paid for by the Government.

In Birmingham the cost of retro-fitting the 213 council owned tower blocks would be £31 million and the council does not the money to do this without cancelling other works on housing such as new bathrooms and kitchens.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show Mr Javid avoided making any commitment on funding. He that safety assessments are being carried out in high-rises around the country and that “whatever essential fire safety work needs to happen, should happen, and if the assessment is that requires sprinklers, then that should happen too.”

He said he would wait until the review concludes before making any changes to law. “Those recommendations whatever they are, and I’m not going to second guess them, they will be taken very, very seriously, that’s the correct way to do this.”

Tower blocks on Birmingham's Druids Heath estate.

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Labour’s shadow housing secretary Jon Healey said: “The Government is still refusing to provide any funding to install sprinklers. This is a neglect of government’s responsibility to worried residents across the country.”

In the wake of Grenfell, the London tower block blaze in which at least 80 people died, former Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy pledged to urgently carry out a review of fire safety in city council owned blocks and fit sprinklers whether or not the Government paid up.

But this week the council’s housing scrutiny committee was told that the department has still not found the estimated £31 million cost.

Housing director Rob James said that retro-fitting sprinklers are council policy, but “the £31 million in relation to sprinklers is not in the current business plan.

He said: “Sprinklers are not the answer. Only protect property not life. Dangerous in kitchens. Irresponsible to make out that there is a hazard where none exists. “Residents in tower blocks need reassurance not spurious claims.”